NGC 3521, aka the Bubble Galaxy, is so nicknamed because of its conspicuous, large halo, which is thought to be the product of mergers with satellite galaxies. Located somewhere between 26 and 37 million light-years away, NGC 3521 is a flocculent galaxy, exhibiting the tightly wound, patchy spiral arms characteristic of this galaxy type.
As I began processing the data for this image, I was pretty uncertain as to what I would be able to produce out of it. The seeing during the imaging session that yielded the data was significantly sub-par for my location, leading me to wonder how much of the small detail in this target I would be able to resolve. Additionally, I was only able to integrate just under 5 hours of subs, leading me to wonder how much of the halo I would be able to capture. Both of my concerns were at least partially put to rest as I processed the data. While showing nowhere the amount of detail displayed in images shot with long focal lengths under steady skies (see
here for an outstanding example), my image did wind up displaying a decent amount of detail. As regards the halo, my image shows about 75% of the volume that can be seen in deeper images. All in all, a better product than I anticipated.
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